LL:ART: All the News That Fits
This week's stories: But The Taxpayers Probably Asked For It...Dramatic Rescue...Government Believes It Is Losing to Public Sector Unions...Weapons of Mass Destruction Found...Quotes of the Week. Former Governor-General Peter Hollingworth will get a lifetime government pension worth at least $184,000 a year. He will also get a taxpayer-funded office, a permanent staff member, and free business-class travel for him and his wife on official business. Dr Hollingworth also gets a pension from the Anglican church. For the 23 months that he served as Governor-General, before resigning over allegations that he helped cover up sexual abuse while an Anglican Archbishop, Dr Hollingworth was paid an annual salary of $310,000 per year. (The Age, May 27). The rescue of Private Jessica Lynch from an Iraqi hospital during the invasion of Iraq was faked, according to local medical staff. The Times of India reports that the Iraqis had actually withdrawn from the area two days before the 'rescue'. Hospital staff drove Pvt Lynch to a US checkpoint in an ambulance a day earlier but were fired on by American troops. Dr Harith Houssana told the Toronto Star that American troops faked a rescue operation for the cameras. "It was like a Hollywood film" he said. "They cried 'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets and the sound of explosives. They made a show". (The Times of India). Workplace Relations Minister Tony Abbott says that unions have largely frustrated the government's attempts to get public servants on to individual, non-union agreements. A document by Mr Abbott says that non-union agreements are declining, the government's favoured Australian Workplace Agreements remain unpopular, and public service agreements continue to be higher than equivalent pay rises in the private sector. The document recommends that the government make AWA's compulsory for all new public servants. (Workers Online website, May 23). ['[EMAIL PROTECTED]' is mis-spelled deliberately because the censorship software at my work would block it otherwise] Investigators at a US Army base have found more than 2,000 tons of hazardous waste including 100 vials of [EMAIL PROTECTED] and other dangerous bacteria. They are believed to be left over from a US germ warfare program that was ended in 1969. The Pentagon said it had no record of the biological agents dumped at the US site, which is being excavated as part of a $US15 million ($A22.94 million) clean-up of the area. "The documentation for where this came from doesn't exist," Lieutenant Colonel Donald Archibald, Fort Detrick's director of safety, told the Washington Post newspaper. The Army expected to find mostly laboratory chemicals, debris and incinerator ash when they started digging at the site two years ago. Instead, they uncovered vials of live bacteria like Brucella melitensis, which causes the flu-like disease brucellosis and Klebsiella pneumoniae, a cause of pneumonia. They also found a nonvirulent form of [EMAIL PROTECTED] The potent form of the disease was brewed by the gallon at Fort Detrick until the weapons program was shut down. Another 50 pressurised cylinders of gases and liquids found at the site are still awaiting analysis. "You never know what's there until you start digging," said Colonel John Ball, the Fort Detrick garrison commander. "We've generally ruled out finding a nuclear weapon." (Australian Associated Press, May 28). Quotes of the Week: "I'm ready to meet my Maker and answer for those who have died or who have been horribly maimed as a result of my decisions". Tony Blair, in the Times, May 27. "In Iraq, there was a government holding valuable resources the U.S. could not control. So the U.S. took action. In the Congo, the U.S. controls the government and the resources, so it doesn't really matter that millions of Congolese are dying." Prof. Didier Gondola, author of "The History of Congo" (Greenwood Press 2002). "The United States cannot afford to write off any potential new export market. A vast and growing market of 700 million consumers, Africa is in many ways the last frontier for U.S. exporters and investors. We cannot stand idly by waiting for Africa to achieve perfection before we engage actively in helping to shape its future. If we temper our engagement, or hold back until the whole of Africa is on even footing, we will concede important opportunities to our competitors and worse still, leave doors open to our adversaries...A visionary economic policy toward Africa is in our own long-term interest." Susan E. Rice, former US Govt. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. Since 1998, civil war in the Congo has killed three and a half million civilians. Less than 25% of its 55 million population have access to clean water, and three out of every four children born during the war have already died or will die before their second birthday. Last October, an independent panel of experts
LL:DDN: September anti-WTO protests - initial brainstorming
From: Marina Carman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> There is going to be an initial brainstorming session about the September protests against the WTO's Cancun meeting. Thursday, June 19, 6pm at the Reading Room, Holme building, University of Sydney. Please come along, and circulate this information to all relevant people and organisations. As far as I remember, initial international calls are for two days of action - one on Tuesday September 9 (WTO) another on Saturday September 13 (War and globalisation). But the idea is to get together and throw around ideas. Marina -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:DDN: Sydney Social Forum Consultation
It's that time again - it's time to get ready for the next Sydney Social Forum! Last year, more than 400 people gathered for the first ever Sydney Social Forum and packed out UTS' Markets Campus for two days of intense discussion about all manner of issues: globalisation and the WTO, the "war on terror", refugee rights, environmentalism, strategies for social movements in Sydney, tactics to confront racism, alliance-building, alternatives for the future and much more. This year, we are hoping to make the second Sydney Social Forum even bigger and better than the first, and make it a real step forward for social activism in this city. The date for the second Sydney Social Forum has been set, provisionally, for Saturday October 25 and Sunday October 26. To get the ball rolling, we are holding a Consultation: When: Wednesday June 4, 6.30pm Where: NSW Teachers Federation, 23-33 Mary St, Surry Hills What: A chance to raise thoughts and ideas on this year's Social Forum Who: Everyone interested in helping kick-start the next SSF For those unable to attend, a feedback form will soon be established on the website: http://www.SydneySocialForum.org/ . The website also provides a way to subscribe to the SSF email lists, to let you keep up to date with what's happening. Supporting organisations are also encouraged to become Official Participants in this year's forum, by making a donation of $100 for large organisations and $50 for small organisations. This will help defray costs of organising the event and will also grant Participants representation on the organising group. We hope you and/or your organisation can be part of the second Sydney Social Forum and we look forward to working with you to make it a success for social activism in this city. We hope to see you on June 4! Another World Is Possible! Sydney Social Forum Organising Group [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.SydneySocialForum.org/ -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:DDV: Socialist Alliance state conference Sat June 28, Vic
Following on from the success of our second national conference, Socialist Alliance will be organising a state conference for Saturday June 28 (a little under four weeks) for Vic Trades Hall. For more information or to register, please call Graham on 9639 8622 or 0403 802 944 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] See you there! AGENDA BELOW: Uniting to Fight for a Better World Victorian state conference June 28, 2003 Victorian Trades Hall cnr Lygon & Victoria Sts Carlton Draft Agenda 11.30am Registration (New Council Chambers) 12.00pm Lunch 12.30pm opening panel - Stop the War on the Third World 1.30pmCampaign workshops 2.45pm break 3.00pm Unions in struggle: defend the CFMEU,Skilled 6=20 and the NTEU 4.00pm Union workshops 5.15pm break 5.30pm Constitutional amendments, election ofstate=20 executive and state conveners 6.30pm Conference close -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:DDV: RALLY to Save the Inner West Migrant Resource Centre
please pass on to all lists and networks! Community Rally to Save the Inner Western Migrant Resource Centre! Saturday June 7, 11am Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray for more info call Joe on 0402 697 201 or Ben on 9332 8566 -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
LL:URL: New LINKS magazine now online:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=323953&group=webcast New LINKS magazine now online: Challenges in uniting the left by LINKS = LEFT = CONNECTIONS - 4:02pm Tue Jun 3 '03 - article#31812 address: PO Box 515, Broadway, NSW 2007, AUSTRALIA - phone: (+61 2) 9690 1230 - Fax: (+61 2) 9690 1381 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] LINKS No.23: January to April, 2003 - Introduction (summary of articles) and list of contents with all the LINKS... LINKS seeks to promote the international exchange of information, experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the international left who are opposed to neo-liberal economic and social policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. LINKS is published three times a year. The latest edition features a number of articles by socialist activists from around the world on the theme of "Challenges in uniting the left". http://www.dsp.org.au/links/back/issue23/ Previous issues of LINKS have frequently discussed internationalism and internationals, or the question of how socialists should collaborate on an international scale. This issue is devoted to the closely related matter of left regroupment, or how socialists can collaborate at the national level. It discusses the challenges of left regroupment through concrete experiences in Australia, England, Scotland, France and Brazil. In Australia in 2002, the Socialist Alliance, grouping nearly all the far-left organisations, was able to overcome difficult electoral registration requirements in several states and attract as new members a significant number of activists who were not members of any of the component groups. In September, the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), the largest member organisation of the Alliance, proposed to spur the process of left regroupment by becoming an internal tendency within the Alliance and carrying out all its public political activity through the Socialist Alliance. In the following pages, we present two articles and two documents relating to the Socialist Alliance and the DSP's proposal. Peter Boyle's "Steps toward greater left unity in Australia" presents the background and rationale of the DSP proposal and the response to it within the Socialist Alliance and the Australian left more generally. "What we proposed", Boyle stressed, "was not an abandonment of Leninism but a tactic to build a bigger revolutionary vanguard in this country. The current political situation is creating new openings to collect a bigger revolutionary vanguard in Australia, and the proposal is a response to new conditions." Accompanying the article are the DSP's proposal, as contained in a letter to the Socialist Alliance National Executive, and a resolution on further steps adopted by the congress of the DSP in January 2003. John Percy, the National Secretary of the DSP, then examines the history of the party in order to extract some of the key lessons it has learned and which the DSP relied on in its proposal to strengthen the Socialist Alliance and the process of left regroupment. He concludes that "our Leninist party perspective will still guide us, whether in the DSP, or as a Democratic Socialist Tendency, or as a strengthened Socialist Alliance party, or as a United Socialist Party. We have to be able to withstand bourgeois pressures, swim against the stream, to be critical and creative, but not reject the methodology and strengths that got us to where we are." Five other articles in this issue constitute a discussion about the forms and content of regroupment between members of the Socialist Workers Party and the International Socialist Movement in the Scottish Socialist Party. The first of these articles, by Murray Smith of the ISM, examines the evolution of the SWP's attitude to left regroupment, welcoming what he regards as important changes, but calling on the SWP "to question some of its assumptions and deepen its analysis, on the Labour Party and above all on what kind of parties we need to build in the coming period". Alex Callinicos of the SWP then outlines his party's view of the question, situating it in an analysis of the rise of the anti-globalisation movement and the war drive of US imperialism. He debates the idea of the "bourgeoisification of social democracy" as used by Smith and the ISM, and argues that "The future of left regroupment depends heavily on how well revolutionaries address [the] tricky task" of "know[ing] how to work with forces to their right without capitulating to them". Next, Nick McKerrell of the ISM takes issue with the SWP's use of the term "unite
LL:DDV: Coming soon at Trades Hall
GET IT LIVE - GET IT AT TRADES HALL ARTS, bringing class back into the class struggle . . . --- NAKED COMMUNIST TERRORIST HIPPIES FROM OUTER SPACE presented by Keep Left Theatre --- ARRR! THEY'RE HERE!! AND THEY DON'T LIKE JOHN HOWARD!!! Naked Communist Terrorist Hippies from Outer Space tells the story of a group of aliens who land on Earth after they are shocked to observe our wars, poverty, pollution and general insanity. In their naive, well-intentioned manner they attempt to show the people of Earth a simple solution to our problems. Presented in THEATRERAMA: An exciting new 3D process that leads you to believe that you are in the same room as the actors! Keep Left Theatre - satire at its natural best from a left-wing perspective. Naked Communist Terrorist Hippies from Outer Space is from the very same Keep Left Theatre team that brought you "S11 - The Dividing Line", "Complicity", and "WTO - The Musical". The Old Council Chambers 8pm Wed - Sat, June 5 - 14 $15 Full/ $10 Conc Bookings Ph: 9318 5271 -- ALTERNATIVE FILM NIGHT 3CR RADIOTHON BENEFIT -- MICHAEL MOORE'S TV NATION - The acclaimed director of "Bowling For Columbine" takes on the KKK, Michigan Militia, Aryan Nations and various homophobes in the infamous "Love Night" episode of his 1996 U.S. TV show. Never before aired in Melbourne. Rated M - Running Time 20 mins MARK THOMAS: WEAPONS INSPECTOR - Left wing British comedian Mark Thomas turns the tables on the British authorities by conducting his own weapons inspections of hallowed institutions such as Buckingham Palace as well as British and US war bases. Neither this program nor this episode have been shown before in Australia. Rated G - Running Time 45 mins QUEERUPTION 2002 - This British documentary follows the 5 days of Queer chaos that exploded during the 2002 London Queeruption festival. Australian debut. Rated M - Running Time 20 mins FOOD NOT BOMBS - A recent documentary that follows the Melbourne Food Not Bombs crew through a typical day of preparing and delivering free food to the homeless. Rated G - Running Time 20 mins All proceeds benefit 3CR Radio and the Squatters & Unwaged Workers Airwaves show. New Ballroom 7pm Friday, June 6th $5 Full/ Gold Coin 4 Unwaged Tickets available at the door on the night --- Book Launch of Graham Hastings Histroy of Australian Student Activism IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE --- Graham Hastings long awaited history of student activism, "It Can't Happen Here" will be launched at the New International Bookshop. There will be a Panel with lively anecdotes from the annals of the student activism: GRAHAM HASTINGS - former campus activist, currently research officer at the Melbourne national office of the National Union of Students; TOM CARGILL - was General Secretary of the Flinders University Students' Association, currently has been working a a staffer for various ALP MPs. KEN McALPINE - Known as 'Red Ken' during his student politics days in NSW and SA in the 70's & 80'S's, currently the national industrial officer of the NTEU. CAMILLE BARBAGELLO - a leading student activist in the Queensland, very active in recent anti-capitalist and Baxter protests, National Education Officer of NUS in 2002, currently is the co-ordinator of the Victorian Young Unionist Network Chaired by JEFF SPARROW - as well as being the co-ordinator of the NIBS collective Jeff was active in the Victorian student activism in the 1990s and was one of the infamous Austudy 5. The book, the first comprehensive history of Australian student activism, covers the Vietnam/Springbok protests, the wave of campus occupations in 1973/4 - including the 29 day occupation at Flinders University, a history of national student unionism from the 1920s till now, VSU, the free education movement and the recent anti-capitalist protests. Copies of the book, literally hot off the press, will be available for $25. New International Bookshop 6:30pm - Wednesday, June 4th FREE Event - Gypsy Music by CZARDAS One Night Only - Czardas (pronounced: zar darsh) play a panoply of gypsy music from Russia and Hungary, a touch of klezmer, a bit of Balkan and the occasional venture into flamenco. Czardas also play original material inspired by Eastern European music. Their music is romantic, full of passion and pathos. They add to their concerts, a sprinkle of gypsy swing revealing the lighter whimsical side gypsy music. Czardas are Marjorie Gadd on violin, Steve Gadd on Guitar and bazouki, and Erin Collins on vocals. Marjorie is a professional string teacher and co-director of The Tasmanian Heritage String Ensemble. Steve is a composer, folklorist and collector and is known na
LL:URL: URGENT POLL on ABC
Here is the latest ABC online poll, about the War and the protests: It has not been widely notified and Young Liberals have organised a campaign to discredit the peace marches via this poll so I urge you to vote immediately - it is well set up and only takes a second. http://www.abc.net.au/news/multipoll3/vote/default.htm Note the interesting discrepancy in results at midday Monday .. the marchers are " a vocal minority" according to this poll - but the very same poll shows 60% opposed to the attack - in spite of their best efforts to spin it. Pass it on! .. -- -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
